capekate

g'morning!
I came home yesterday with the master Tester and couldnt resist a few more fish. I have added three red minor tetras. I will go back this weekend and pick up two more so they are in a good group. I have always loved the barbs, like the tigers etc but in my peaceful community tank, I knew they wouldnt work. Thought the tetras resembled the barbs enough for the subsitute. And it worked.. they get along fine with everyone else. A suggestion to anyone that really likes the shapes of the barbs, but do not want the semi aggresive fish in their community tank that they should check out the tetras.
Here are some photos of my new additions! And I also picked up some live plants and added them as well. I will continue to replace the silk plants over time with live plants. For live plants I have Frill plants (myriophyllum scabratum) and Hornwort. I have mondo grass in my 10g.
What do you think of my new babies?

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COBettaCouple

They're beauties. we often look at those in the LPS.

capekate

they really are sweet. and I love how they move around...
funny tho, I noticed that two of them have round black dots by their heads, and one has a stripe. And the two that hang out together are the ones with the dots. I plan on getting three more, hopefully sometime this weekend coming up.

COBettaCouple

I think they have different lengths of that black stripe. Gender is hard to tell, but maybe they're boy/girl seperating or the 1 is younger than the others.. they sound like good fish. We'd love to see vids of them.

Jim

Serpea's... very cool. Wait until you feed them, they move so fast they're like little piranha...

capekate

they are very kewl.. I will have to do that soon. (the video). As far as feeding goes tho, they stay to themselves sitting low in the tank, by the time all the other guys are eating, theres not much left for them. Then they go around chasing the small flakes that float to the bottom. The two tetra that have the perfect round dot, do not have any stripe. The one that does have the stripe, does not have any dot. Go figure LOL... I dunno, maybe your right, it may be a female/male thing?
have a great day!

COBettaCouple

can you get them to go to one side and then feed them while the others are eating on the other side?

Jim

wow, mine practically take over the tank and shove all the other fish out of the way

capekate

they just dont seem to realize that the food is at the surface. They are busy hanging out under a plant etc. When they do, its usally only bits left over floating to the bottom for them to feed on. But its then that they go chasing around the bottom looking for anymore floaters. I will work on a system somehow to feed them. With feeding the others that come to the surface as soon as I lift the hood, they are ready to grab any and all of the food offered. If at this time that I can slip some food past them, on another side of the tank I will try...
they are cute lil buggers hehe....I will be picking up three more today to round out the school. So now will have to put off the idea of angels..
Oh well.

capekate

These lil tetras are the smallest fish in the tank. I dont think they will be pushing anyone away for awhile! lol... When they grow who knows?

sgould

It's not about size...it's all about attitude!

Jim

sgould is right... I live in florida and we have mockingbirds everywhere... I swear to god I've seen them chase away a hawk 3 times their size... ATTITUDE rules the animal kingdom

COBettaCouple

yea, those mockingbirds are nuts.. divebombing cats, chasing big birds.. i hope we still have some when the state is completely paved.

Maybe those tetras would benefit from some food that floats around mid-level, if you have any at the local LFS/LPS.

capekate

Ahhhh I love the 'song' of the mockingbird! Its so distinct... the copycats they are.
I went and brought home three more tetras yesterday. I do believe the tank is now stocked, probubly more than it should have. So Im stopping now. Tho those angels that had just come in at the LFS were gorgeous. I know how territorial they can be, and I may get my self into something I may regret if I were to get two angels that I wanted. I think settleing for 6 schooling tetras is the better way to go. They are so much fun to watch.
I also picked up some more plants to replace some of the silk that I had. I had bought a hornwort plant that looks alot like the frill plant, but boy does it make a mess in the tank. So out it went and the frill plant, more hardy and wont fall apart was its replacement. Now there is plenty of dense plant life for the chance of some fry being born to either the molly or the platy to survive.
I also bought some ammo loc by API. Im going to test the water today and see if it works. I hear some good things about it.
Enjoy the weekend everyone! Espically all you folks that live in the warmer climates! ahhhh cant wait for summer here!